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The rise of the baby bundlers is adding a face-to-face dimension to tactics used in 2004 to spur an explosion of Internet donations. (Photo courtesy Nicola R. Heskett)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On a table near The Cashew’s upstairs bar, Nicola Heskett is laying out an array of pens and donor information forms as Jason Moehlman strolls in, still sweaty from the muggy evening’s air.

He slaps down a $20 bill to cover the recommended contribution for the Kansas City Lawyers for Barack Obama Happy Hour. “Uh, would you mind using your credit card? I think it’s a little cleaner,” says Heskett, 36, a first-time, small-time bundler for Obama who is helping to rewrite political fundraising playbooks this cycle.

The rise of the baby bundlers — people who ask friends and family to donate for a candidate and then direct the money to the campaign — is adding a face-to-face dimension to tactics used in 2004 to spur an explosion of Internet donations.

The influx of these new players, combined with unorthodox appeals by the candidates, also is fundamentally reshaping the parties’ donor bases.

The surprising end result could be that the Democratic nominee will buck historic trends and have a significant financial edge in a cycle when the nominees alone are expected to spend an unprecedented $1 billion.

Obama on Monday e-mailed supporters to report he had 75,000 new donors in the third quarter, which ends Sunday.

That figure nearly matches the entire Republican field’s donor base in the first six months of the year.

According to an August analysis by the Campaign Finance Institute done in partnership with Politico, 87 percent of the donors to Democrats in the first six months of this year didn’t give money to any candidate in the party’s crowded 2004 primary, the first presidential race after passage of the McCain-Feingold reform law that put a premium on limited individual donations.

There’s also a significant infusion of new blood on the GOP side: Among Republican givers, 89 percent of donors did not give to President Bush in his 2004 reelection race.

That figure could reflect two trends: the engagement of new donors such as those backing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney from the Mormon community and the fatigue or disenchantment of Bush-Cheney donors.

Several high-ranking members of the president’s 2004 campaign finance team haven’t written a single check to a 2008 candidate.

The total number of donors who gave more than $200 in the first six months of this year to Democrats was 137,388 compared to 81,075 givers to Republicans, the Campaign Finance Institute study found.

If history serves as a guide, many of those primary donors will be inherited by the party nominee next year, much as Democrat Howard Dean’s Internet activists stuck with nominee John F. Kerry in 2004.

“The Democratic nominee will begin with an unprecedented fundraising base and will be able to draw on the unprecedented fundraising bases of other Democrats. That will make for a very powerful force,” said Anthony Corrado, a political fundraising expert who serves on the Campaign Finance Institute’s board.

The primary engine behind the Democratic gains is the upstart campaign of Obama. His new face and soaring rhetoric draws huge crowds on the campaign trail that can turn thousands of $5 donations into real money.

Readers' Comments (73)

Hillary has already maxed out most of her donors and who knows at the end of the day how much she will have to give back as the Hsu scandal continues to explode.The $850,000 may only be the tip of the iceberg. The woman has no support amoung small donors.Her whole campaign is based on Bill's star power and a media that wants the dems in the White House.How many people are truely excited about her becoming President? No one on either side puts any credibility in what she says because it could change tomorrow based on what a new poll says.The problem is that neither Edwards or Obama looks as though they have the balls to take her on directly.The other problem is the Howard Dean Syndrone where they raise a lot of money on the interent but it will fail to translate into votes in Iowa and NH because the older dems are the ones that show up to vote....The next line of defense against Hillary will be to turn independents against her in large numbers.The question here is will there be enough of them to offset the illegal vote in swing states. Yeah I know illegals aren't supposed to vote but one one will be minding the store in heavily Dem districts.No different than dead people voting en masse.The Dems even fight efforts for voter to purge voter's lists of dead people.Disenfranchisement of the dead!! "If they were still alive they would have wanted Hillary President!!"

I have been one of those small contributors to Obama. i have donated small amounts several times. I wish I was rich and could give him the max. I have never donated to a candidate before Obama. I never thought any were worth parting with my hard earned money for. this time not only have I donated, but, am voting in the primaries for the first time (I've only voted in the general before) and have volunteered. Not only because of my extreem dislike of Bush. He will be gone. But, i also have an extreem dislike of the corporate and neocon Hillary and do not want her to get the nomination. I also really believe in obama and know he is the best candidate not just for president but, to transform our country to something so much better. He has exciting ideas and doesn't answer or think in the usual insider, establishment conventional wisdom way. so very tired and stale. and Obama brings in fresh approaches and thinking. If Hillary gets the nomination I will not support or vote for her.

Why anyone in The United States would send a penny to these TRAITORS is beyond belief! I am not just talking about these two, Billary and Osama the Muslim. I am talking about anyone who is holding office. We have no choices yet. We need a true AMWERICAN LEADER, not a crook, pedophiles, Muslims, thieves and drug and alcohol addicts to run OUR country. Once we send them to Washington, they start working for La Raza, NAACP, Soros, ACLU, Mexico and the Anti- Gun lobby. Instead of protecting our RIGHTS, they go in the closet and start Bills and Amendments to make all of us Political Prisoners. So, you people keep sending them MONEY, but please, don't cry on the BLOGS about AMERICA, it makes us sick!!

Being the media darling that she is...Hellry can pick up a lot of free media attention and exposure...ala, this past Sunday. The Edward and Obama camps will have to wait for a debate or keep it local, knocking on doors, talking to the local press, with an interview here and there thay may or may not be picked up by larger markets and states. Hellry's just got too much power for either to overcome. A lot of money may keep them in the race to win a few primaries, but not enough. I'm afraid all you Obama and Edward dems/libs are going to have change over to lovers of ol' Hellry. She'll be in the hunt until '08. Then it's over for her.

Whoopdeedoo! There are millions of disaffected noobs looking for someone to lead them. Obama appears to be the most likable, and clean to quote Joe Biden, so I'm not surprised that he's got lots of donors. I also think it's sad that choosing a politician today has been reduced to a super market exercise akin to finding a ripe mellon. They look for nothing more than if its firm, looks and smells good and have no idea if its rotten to the core. I'm not suggesting Obama is rotten only that he's no better or different than any other candidate out there. Inarticulate, perhaps even as bad as President Bush, and definitely way outside the mainstream with his left-wing politics. People should think twice before throwing money at this guy. They'll end up bringing him home, and only after it's too late, and notice all the flies he attracts.

Hey vw, i appreciate your enthusiasm for Obama. I don't share your enthusiasm, but i can appreciate that for the first time you found a candidate you can get behind with your money and your primary vote. But I have to agree with Shirlee that Hillary will win the democrat primary. I am curious, what do you do then? Vote for Thompson, my bet for the republican nomination, or whoever the republican nominee is? Hold your nose adn vote for Hillary anyway? Or vote for an independent candidate? Or not vote at all? I'm asking in a most sincere way. Just very curious.

Obama is an empty vessel who has accomplished nothing and is a rank amateur, yet people are drawn to him because he speaks well and invokes lofty rhetoric. It is true, however, that Republicans need to kick up their fundraising a notch. I just made my first donation to the RNC and am about to do the same for Rudy. This country's future is too important to let it fall into the hands of this neophyte or Hillary so they can tax us all to death and impose single-payer health care.

The Democrats can always raise money because they'll sell out their offices. Bill Clinton did it with Charlie Trie in 1996, Hillary with Hsu in 2007 and Obamma is no different. But since we're talking small potatoes doners, (like me) the real news should be how the Republican base is withholding its financial support in retaliation for the betrayal of President Bush and the Congress on the illegal Mexican situation, gigantic federal spending and the Harriet Meyers nomination to the court. This double dem/rep financial tsunami could in fact flush out all of the entrenched RINOS which would be a good and necessary thing. I suppose it will just have to get worse before it gets better. American will survive but only with Gods help.

With all this manic on money, what is the sequitur? Money may help Mr. Obama, but Hillary unfortunately has the clout. Nice man, but, honest to God, boring as hell. You can go to sleep listening to Mr. Obama speak in his monotone and up the scale at the end of his sentences. So, let's see where the money takes the young man . . .back to the Senate I would suspect, but, you know the American people are like the weather in Texas . . .they change on a dime. Mr. Obama seemingly never increases his lead with all this money, so that leaves the elderly as myself wondering what will it buy . .I don't think votes . .maybe a nice popularity contest, but not votes. . .but again, let's wait and see . ..so early . . .we are sitting on our eggs so early and I am not too sure some of them are going to hatch.

With all this manic on money, what is the sequitur? Money may help Mr. Obama, but Hillary unfortunately has the clout. Nice man, but, honest to God, boring as hell. You can go to sleep listening to Mr. Obama speak in his monotone and up the scale at the end of his sentences. So, let's see where the money takes the young man . . .back to the Senate I would suspect, but, you know the American people are like the weather in Texas . . .they change on a dime. Mr. Obama seemingly never increases his lead with all this money, so that leaves the elderly as myself wondering what will it buy . .I don't think votes . .maybe a nice popularity contest, but not votes. . .but again, let's wait and see . ..so early . . .we are sitting on our eggs so early and I am not too sure some of them are going to hatch.

Why anyone in The United States would send a penny to these TRAITORS is beyond belief! I am not just talking about these two, Billary and Osama the Muslim. I am talking about anyone who is holding office. We have no choices yet. We need a true AMWERICAN LEADER, not a crook, pedophiles, Muslims, thieves and drug and alcohol addicts to run OUR country.

Why? Because we are not as ignorant as you. Do you realize how it sounds when you post this garbage??? Traitors? What liberties are either of these candidates infringing upon or taking away from the American public? What are they doing to betray the American public?

Obama, Clinton, Rudy, Mitt, it does not matter. Unfortunately it took segregationist Governor Wallace to reveal the truth that "there's not a dime's worth of difference between" Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats willingly went along with the War in Iraq, suspension of Habeas Corpus, detaining protesters, banning books like "America Deceived' from Amazon, stealing private lands (Kelo decision), warrant-less wiretapping and refusing to investigate 9/11 properly. They are both guilty of treason. Give your money to the only candidate who is not beholden to AIPAC, Dr. Ron Paul. The revolution is underway. Last link (before Google Books bends to gov't Will and drops the title): http://www.iuniverse.com/books...